Companies across the nation throughout Pride Month broadcast support for the LGBTQ community with intentions of proving acceptance, but consumers questioned the true intentions behind the endorsements.
Eileen Lefurgey, 32, said the issue is “complicated,” noting that some companies do so to express solidarity, while others do it for profit.
“If their support seems to vanish after Pride Month, then they probably were just trying to use it as a way to get more business,” Lefurgey said. “If you’re going to say you support the community, then you need to continue to do it at other times, not just during Pride Month.”
Pride Month celebrates the LGBTQ community around the world and occurs in June to commemorate the Stonewall riots in June 1969. Increasingly, during June, companies fly rainbow flags and sell Pride-related products in efforts to recognize the community.
Maria Gramajo, 20, felt that, because many companies create and sell products rather than giving back, they are “just money-scheming companies.”
Gramajo, an American University student and STEP assistant at the Center for Diversity and Inclusion’s Office of Campus Life, also explained that the LGBTQ community is not the only group exploited by such companies; similar occurrences arise during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, commonly known as “pinkwashing.”
The term “pinkwashing,” originally coined by Breast Cancer Action, symbolizes the political and marketing strategies of companies to attract sales in regards to Breast Cancer Awareness. The LGBTQ community uses this term as well for similar strategies used to attract business from the community, widely known as “queer-baiting.”
However, several members of the community feel that such representation from companies is quintessential.
According to Community Marketing & Insights’ 12th Annual LGBTQ Community Survey in 2018, 85% of those surveyed agreed that companies that support the community are “more important than ever,” and 76% agreed that such companies would receive more of their business in the upcoming year.
For Lefurgey, consistency is vital in the efforts made by companies.
“I think it would be really important that if a company wanted to show their solidarity, they would have to show their support all the time,” Lefurgey said.